HFC Falke (Germany)

HFC Falke is a football club from the northern German city of Hamburg that was formed on July 19th 2014. It was formed as a protest breakaway club by fans of Hamburger SV against the commercialism of the club.

The name was chosen to reflect the names of Hamburg FC, formed in 1888 and FC Falke, formed in 1906 who were two of the three clubs that merged to form Hamburger SV (HSV) in June 1919.

Falke started out life playing in Staffel 5 of the Kreisklasse Hamburg in the 2015-16 season; which was one of many ninth tier national divisions. Without a home ground of their own, the club moved in to share Rudolf-Barth-Stadion with Union 03 Altona.

Tamara Dwenger was appointed as the first ever club President with Dirk Hellmann the first head coach. Falke won the Staffel 5 title in 2015-16 to move to Kreisliga 2, which was also won at the first attempt in 2016-17.

A fifth place in the seventh level Bezirksliga Nord followed in 2017-18 before it was bettered with third place in 2018-19 as Leon Packheiser banged in the goals and Hellmann remained in charge of the team in front of home crowds of around 200 fans.

The club moved to the Rasenplatz ground on Steinwiesenweg as Shanin Taheri led the scoring in 2019-20 as the season finished early owing to the COVID-19 pandemic as Falke sat in fifth place.

HFC Falke will play in Bezirksliga Nord Hamburg in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

Thursday 14^th March 2019

I had arrived in the Hamburg rain for a three day visit of culture, socialising, sightseeing and football and wanted to visit a few local clubs before checking in to my hotel.

I’d already called at the homes of SC Sperber Hamburg and Hamburg-Eimsbütteler BC. I’d considered leaving the Rudolf-Barth-Stadion until Friday or Saturday morning, but I was in the mood and already damp, so I bit the bullet.

I was intrigued about HFC Falke. They had an attractive looking website, but I didn’t delve too deeply into their background. If I had it would have revealed that they were relatively new on the scene and didn’t have a previous home ground.

Despite their moderate home crowds, the club had a good social presence on social media which revealed that they had played Dulwich Hamlet in a home friendly in pre-season. I thought that they were anchor tenants at the venue.

The fifteen minute walk took me along normal wide German streets and alongside the duel carriageway of Eimsbütteler Marktplatz and then Kieler Straße before doing a right along Waidmannstraße.

The gates to the grounds were open. To the left were tennis courts, a hard court along with athletics track which appeared to cater for football in the centre. However, the path also took me to my intended location past some ticket booths.

Every so often with my hobby you come across an unrealised gem. This was such an occasion. It was a fantastic old venue. A sort of old Southern League ground in the UK minus a main seated stand.

Open terracing wrapped virtually around three sides. A few open seats were placed the rear behind the goal, with a large clubhouse behind it. The far goal was partly open terrace before giving way to Union’s indoor Sports Hall.

I’m not sure whether the buildings down the west side were associated with Union, but they backed onto the terrace. Open grass backed the opposite side. The only HFC Falke presence I could find was a banner on that area of turf.

The groundsmen played along and posed for an imaginary photo having a laugh. It’s little things like that that start a visit to a city off in the right way. I was delighted at my find and it being open.

Mission accomplished, I continued along Waidmannstraße and then Plöner Stieg to catch a train to Altona from Diebsteich station. Within minutes I was wandering through the main thoroughfare of Große Bergstraße in what once a separate city to Hamburg.

After a quick call at Aldi to compare the store to back home and grab some provisions, I located my accommodation; the decent Hotel Stadt Altona for a freshen up and brief siesta. My inkling that it was to be a fun stay was confirmed throughout the evening.

The St Pauli Evening Walking Tour was interesting and eye opening led by Croatian guide Sabina. I continued in the area afterwards to socialise and have a fantastic opening night. It certainly set me up for the rest of my stay!